Iraq Puts Chemical Sword Over Israel

CAIRO, EGYPT — President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, boasting that he had acquired advanced chemical weapons, threatened Monday to annihilate half of Israel if it moved against his country.

The statement reflected a deepening mood of defiance, anger and suspicion that Western criticism of Baghdad's human rights record and assertions that it is seeking a nuclear capability are part of an attempt to justify an attack on it.

In a speech on the official Baghdad radio, Hussein said that if the United States and Britain thought the campaign would provide political and diplomatic cover for Israel to strike at Iraq, they were mistaken.

''Because, by God, we will make the fire eat up half of Israel if it tries to do anything against Iraq,'' he declared.

In a similar vein, he denied that Iraq had acquired nuclear weapons, but asserted that Iraq's new chemical capability is as powerful as nuclear weapons.

''We do not need an atomic bomb,'' he said. ''We have the dual chemical. Whoever threatens us with the atomic bomb, we will annihilate him with the dual chemical.'' He gave no details of what the new chemical weapons were.

Western diplomats said the term ''dual chemical'' could refer to the advanced form of binary chemical weapons, which combine two inert chemical agents to produce a highly dangerous weapon.

The Iraqi leader, supported by Arab nations, has reacted sharply to Western criticism of the execution last month of a British-based Iranian reporter and the uncovering of an alleged Iraqi plot last week to smuggle what American and British investigators said were nuclear detonators from the United States to Iraq.

The discovery of the devices at Heathrow Airport in London added to Western and Israeli worries over Iraq's military power.

During its eight-year war with Iran, which ended in August 1988, Iraq acknowledged using chemical weapons against its adversaries.

Western diplomats in Baghdad say Iraq is able to produce between 3,000 and 13,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and various nerve gases, each year.

But Monday's statement was the first indication that it had acquired a more advanced chemical capability, which the Iraqi leader said was equaled only by the United States and the Soviet Union.

Baghdad's military is the most powerful and most battle-tested Arab army, according to Western experts in Baghdad.

Iraq has about 1 million men under arms - twice as many as Egypt, the historic military power of the Arab world - and more tanks and combat aircraft than Israel, the specialists said.

It has developed and deployed several medium-range missiles, produces Soviet-designed T-72 tanks under license and last year launched a space missile with a potential range of 3,000 miles.

In Israel, both the prime minister's and foreign minister's offices condemned the statements, calling them irresponsible, and said Israel would not be intimidated by Iraqi threats.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's office said Israel has ''no aggressive intention against Iraq,'' but added, ''Israel is not taking the Iraqi threat lightly.''

President Hussein has long been seen by Arab and Western diplomats as harboring ambitions to dominate the region and may have chosen this moment of Arab disaffection with the slow pace of American-sponsored regional diplomacy to strike a militant posture.

Additionally, the diplomats said Baghdad suspects a Western and Israeli plot in the recent wave of criticism, adding that Hussein may be seeking to pre-empt an attack on his military industries.

Israeli aircraft destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981 before it was completed, and former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin has warned that Israel would attack Iraq again if it placed nuclear weapons aboard missiles or aircraft able to reach Israel.

No such specific threat has been issued in regard to chemical weapons.

Israel is believed to have a small nuclear arsenal of its own.

''Whoever wants to occupy Iraq, let him come forward,'' Hussein declared. ''We are not carrying the banner of challenge. We are not defying anyone. But if anyone challenges us, he will find us stronger than a diamond, delicate but also solid. We will not be trampled upon.''

''We have seen these reports, and if they are true, what we have seen is inflammatory, irresponsible and outrageous,'' she said. ''In a region which is already volatile enough, no one should be trumpeting chemical weapons. We should be trumpeting their destruction.''